Digital storytelling can help dementia patients recover memories, U of A study finds

Elly Park, right, a clinical lecturer in the University of Alberta's Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine has made a video with dementia patient Myrna Caroline Jacques on August 22, 2017. Shaughn Butts/Postmedia Network

EDMONTON - Myrna Jacques clicks through her family photos with Elly Park and shares details about each of them. Each photo triggers a memory for Jacques, who has Alzheimer's disease.

These photos are part of a larger seven-minute video created by Jacques to remember stories from her past and share them with Park, principal investigator of a University of Alberta study.

The study found using digital storytelling to share meaningful stories and pictures from one's past can help trigger memories and fight dementia.

Jacques, 77, shared her video with the public Tuesday. She focused on her family and being a mother to her two daughters.

As part of the study, Park worked with seven participants in Edmonton with varying stages of dementia to create digital stories.

The patients met with Park individually about eight times and shared stories from their past to come up with an idea they wanted to make a video about, something none of them had experience doing. They chose pictures, music and then voiced the narration for their videos.

Jacques jumped at the opportunity to take part in the study because she feels it is important to talk about the disease.

"You can't be ashamed when you have something like this," she said. "It's important that we get the word out, that it's here and it affects people."

When the videos were complete, Park organized an "emotional" viewing of all the videos to share them with loved ones.

Park, of the faculty of rehabilitation medicine at the U of A's department of occupational therapy, said the participants were able to trigger deeply buried memories from looking at photos and they all found it to be a beneficial exercise in using their brains.

"When you do something that is meaningful, that has personal connection, it has a deeper impact than just doing, let's say, mind exercises," she said.

This digital storytelling project, Jacques said, gave her the opportunity to be open about the disease and accept help.

"You don't know when things are going to change, so you have to live life the best you can and do as much as you can," she said.

The study is part of a larger project taking place in Vancouver and Toronto as well, Park said, and those involved are looking into making modifications for future studies, including videotaping some of the interviews and perhaps making their own video-editing program better suited for people with dementia.

The findings were published in the International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population in July 2017.

Sharing her video with her family, including five grandchildren, was an indescribable feeling for Jacques and the everlasting video is precious to her family.